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CPI Introduces Training Program Enhancements at Instructor Conference

NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwired - Jul 20, 2015) - Since 1980, more than 10 million human services professionals have learned the Crisis Prevention Institute's (CPI) Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® program best-practice techniques for working with individuals who exhibit risk behaviors. Learners gathering this week for CPI's Instructor Conference in New Orleans will get a first look at new learning models and physical intervention options that have been added to the program, intended to give staff within their organizations highly effective tools to promote safer schools, hospitals, and other human services settings.

"The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® program has been such a powerful, positive force for the organizations who continue to train that there is always a temptation to sit back and think that there's no need to change," said CPI president Judith Schubert. "But as the needs of our customers, the needs of the staff they train, and the needs of the individuals they care for change, we have to continually assess what we can do to add quality and flexibility to the training while ensuring that any enhancements foster our primary philosophy to provide for the best Care, Welfare, Safety, and Security(SM)."

CPI's Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® program teaches strategies to help staff identify and assess behaviors that are at risk of becoming violent. Verbal intervention strategies taught in the program have allowed many organizations over the years to dramatically reduce the use of physical restraint and seclusion. In the rare occasion where verbal de-escalation strategies are not sufficient to mitigate the risk behavior, physical intervention techniques are also taught as a last resort option to managing the risks of the behavior as well as the risk of the intervention itself.

Enhancements to the program include additional content, learning models, and physical intervention options aimed at promoting safety for everyone involved in helping an individual in crisis to manage their risk behavior. Staff are provided with a new behavioral risk assessment perspective to help guide decision making when considering restrictive interventions. More physical intervention options were also added to the program, with various levels of restriction that consider the level of risk behavior presented.

The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® program is typically delivered through a train-the-trainer model, meaning that CPI certifies Instructors all over the world to teach the program to staff within their organizations. Program enhancements also upgrade the Instructor certification process to build the trainer proficiency needed to meet requirements for ongoing staff training and re-training.

"We take our responsibility to promote the integrity and support of quality training implementation through Certified Instructors very seriously," said Schubert. "We've worked to craft a way forward that will exemplify our mission, provide added options, and expand Instructor support."